As a child, I distinctly remember receiving the gift of a new watch from my father. It was beautiful and shiny and I couldn’t wait to wear it. The sense of responsibility and privilege of owning such an item was thrilling – I took care of it and ensured its safe keeping. It is a testimony of the gift’s sentimental value that some 20 years on, I still remember my feelings of pride as sole owner of the watch.

But for many young girls in Southern India, the gift of jewellery at a young age is in fact no gift at all, rather a guarantee of life-long bondage. Every year, some 3,000 girls are dedicated to the Hindu goddess of fertility, Yellama. It is an age old tradition with historic roots linked to the Devadasi system whereby women were sold to Hindu temples as concubines. Their dedication is accompanied by a red and white beaded necklace, an outward sign of their allegiance to Yellama and regarded as a symbol of good luck, which has a hold on the girls and their family. Although glamorous thousands of years ago, the prestige of being Devadasi is long gone and has been replaced by a label of shame. A Devadasi’s fate is met at her dedication ceremony, often at age three of four. Once a Devadasi hits puberty, her virginity is auctioned off and she is subsequently sent to work in a brothel.

As is often the case, those at the lowest end of the poverty ladder face a greater fate. Almost all Devadasi are Dalits – untouchables – falling below India’s caste system and “married” to Yellama as young girls. Because Dalit families do not have money for a dowry, the Devadasi system actually consoles parents; their daughters’ work is done in the name of religion which eases the conscience and provides financial support through remittances. Parents become pimps for their daughters and force them into sanctified prostitution because their daughters are too poor to marry a mortal. Even when girls return after being sold, they are pimped in their own village.

Devadasi women typically work in the brothels until they are 45, or until they are no longer an attractive commodity to the brothel. Having lost the chance to wed as a result of their marriage to the goddess, Devadasi women turn to begging as a form of survival, often outside the very temples of their dedication. While Yellama may be an enticing goddess to young girls, she quickly loses her allure when the reality of forced prostitution and social isolation sets in. Their goddess has let them down.

Although the practice of Devadasi is outlawed, it is still occurring and the dedications to Yellama take place in secret. And even though women have been selling their daughters into ritualised prostitution for centuries, many admit feelings of regret and express their desire for a different life course. Behind the red and white necklaces are women and girls hoping for change and an end to the professed ‘bondage of the beads’.

To help women trapped by the Devadasi system, or to find out more about ritualised prostitution in India, please visit the Dalit Freedom Network’s UK website.